Francis Ngannou will fight Tyson Fury on October 28

By Shawn Stewart

Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou have agreed to fight on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, according to ESPN. The fight, though just an exhibition bout, is sure to be one of the biggest of the year.

When and where is pretty much all the information that’s available. It’s not known whether Fury’s WBC heavyweight title will be on the line, and the number of rounds and the rules are also not known.

The two sides have hinted at a fight for quite some time now, and Ngannou said in January that his team was in contact with Fury’s about such a bout. Fury said on the “Out Of Interest” podcast this week that there was real “potential” for it, too, and that they had received some offers.

“I think there’s been a lot of talk of me and Ngannou fighting each other,” he said. “He wants to come to boxing and he wants to fight me. Talking a lot of stuff on Instagram that he wanted to fight, he was even at one of my last fights and got up on the ring and confronted me. Potentially.”

Ngannou hasn’t boxed professionally yet in his career, though he was a dominant force in the UFC. He holds a 17-3 record there, having last defended his heavyweight title against Cyril Gane in January 2022. He first beat Stipe Miocic for that belt in 2021.

Fury, on the other hand, has a near-perfect 33-0-1 with 24 KOs and currently holds the WBC world heavyweight title. He last beat Derek Chisora in December. The only blemish on his record came in 2018, when his fight with Deontay Wilder ended in a controversial draw.